This invention relates to weapon simulators and more particularly, it concerns a small caliber weapons simulator in which all physical characteristics exhibited by the firing of a real weapon are synthesized to provide a safe, economical and effective marksmanship training device.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,657,826 issued Apr. 25, 1972 to Albert H. Marshall et al and U.S. Pat. No. 3,938,262 issued Feb. 17, 1976 to Richard A. Dye et al exemplify prior art disclosures of weapon simulators in which a laser beam transmitter is employed to simulate the trajectory of a bullet discharged from a gun. In the Marshall et al patent, the laser beam transmitter is supported within a replica of a gun to be simulated and incorporates circuitry for synthesizing either automatic or semi-automatic operation of a real weapon. The simulator disclosed in the Dye et al patent uses a laser transmitter mounted on a real weapon and actuated in response to blank cartridges fired by the weapon.
While the effectiveness of laser beam transmitters as a safe and economical aid to marksmanship training has been demonstrated by the prior art, there is a need for such a training device which simulates more accurately and completely the physical characteristics experienced by a marksman on firing a real weapon. Such characteristics as gun recoil and the audible report of a bullet discharged from a gun have an influence on the marksman's ability to sight and fire a weapon and should be accounted for in simulators. These characteristics are recognized in such prior art disclosures as U.S. Pat. No. 2,398,813 issued Apr. 23, 1946 to T. H. Swisher and U.S. Pat. No. 3,220,732 issued Nov. 30, 1965 to M. S. Pincus. In addition to recoil and sound, however, the discharge of a bullet from a rifle develops a reaction to initiation of bullet spin known as "muzzle rise" and which is exhibited as a lifting force on the barrel of the weapon. This latter characteristic has an effect particularly on repetitive firing whether resembling an automatic or semi-automatic mode of weapons operation.